#602 - A bandit becomes a county magistrate
An hour later, inside a guest room on the third floor of the inn.
Outside the window, all was quiet. The bright moon hung in the sky, and the cold wind howled and paused intermittently, patting the window lattice in fits and starts.
Wei Changtian sat at the table, his expression unreadable.
“Young Master, why has Zhongling become like this?”
Yang Liushi, sitting opposite him, sighed softly: “I wonder if Magistrate Wang is still alive.”
“Magistrate Wang” was the thin magistrate from two years ago.
Although this man was not particularly capable, his character would never allow Zhongling County to become a den of thieves, let alone collude with them.
Therefore, in Wei Changtian and Yang Liushi's opinion, he had either resigned or died.
“It doesn't matter anymore.”
Shaking his head, Wei Changtian remained expressionless, and it was impossible to know what he was feeling.
However, they didn't care.
If the bandits dared to cause trouble, they would simply kill them all.
In any case, any one of the Wei family's members was strong enough to sweep through the entire Zhongling County.
As for more... Da Ning had just experienced two years of turmoil, and there should be many places as miserable as Zhongling County.
Bandits were in power, and the people suffered.
The government was unable to control the bandits and could only let them be, or even collude with them to exploit the people.
They could save one or two, but they could not save everyone.
Moreover, the upcoming national war was the top priority.
Therefore, Wei Xianzheng and Qin Caizhen were currently cultivating as if nothing had happened, not caring what would happen later.
As for Wei Changtian on the other hand...
“They're here.”
His eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze turned to the tightly closed door.
The almost imperceptible footsteps were very light. Roughly judging, there seemed to be about a dozen people.
Obviously, these people were definitely here to kill and steal.
The mastermind behind them might be the woman, or perhaps the soldiers at the city gate, or even both.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Because just as Yang Liushi waved her hand, casting an illusion technique to envelop the entire inn, fierce fighting sounds had already erupted outside the door, and then returned to silence in less than ten breaths.
Throughout the entire process, Wei Changtian didn't even move.
“Knock knock knock ~”
“Young Master.”
The door was gently pushed open, and Zhang San, his clothes covered in blood, entered the room, bringing with him a strong smell of blood.
He stood at the door, bowed his head and cupped his fist: “A total of thirteen people have been taken care of.”
“As you instructed, the woman was spared.”
“Bring her here.”
“Yes!”
Zhang San responded, then turned and nodded to someone outside the room.
Soon, two people dressed as servants dragged the pale-faced woman into the room.
These two servants were people that Wei Xianzheng had brought with him when he went to Shu Prefecture City.
Plus Zhang San.
Just the three of them had solved thirteen bandits in less than ten breaths, fully demonstrating that these bandits' combat strength was really lacking, and they could probably only show off in front of ordinary people.
“...”
“You… Who exactly are you people?!”
With a “thump,” she was pressed to her knees on the ground. The woman's eyes were full of ferocity, but she couldn't hide her current panic.
She wasn't stupid.
When her thirteen accomplices had their heads moved in the blink of an eye, she knew that she had encountered a tough opponent this time.
However, even so, she still thought that Wei Changtian and his group were just ordinary wealthy merchants.
“There… There are still my people outside the inn! They will definitely report the news immediately when they hear something is wrong!”
“Our people in the city will come then!”
“I advise you to be sensible…”
“Slap!!”
A crisp sound suddenly rang out, and fresh blood mixed with broken teeth flew into the air.
With just a look from Wei Changtian, Zhang San immediately understood and gave the woman a heavy slap, interrupting her meaningless threat.
“Now, I'll ask you a question, and you'll answer.”
Still sitting at the table, Wei Changtian looked coldly at the woman, who was twitching non-stop from the pain, and said in a calm tone: “If you say half a word of nonsense, then you won't have to live.”
“...”
Being able to survive in an environment like Zhongling, the woman was naturally not an easy target.
Although she had just been slapped, she quickly regained her composure, and a trace of viper-like ferocity flashed in her eyes.
However, when she laboriously turned her head and her gaze accidentally swept over the corner of Wei Changtian's clothes, she suddenly froze.
Because there was a small “Wei” character embroidered there.
Wei...
There are many people in the world with the surname Wei, including some wealthy families.
But at least in Da Ning, there is only one family today that dares to embroider the Wei character on their clothes...
“You… You are!”
All ferocity disappeared in an instant, leaving only endless fear.
Only now did the woman know the background of this group of people tonight, and from this, she guessed Wei Changtian's identity.
She looked at Wei Changtian, trembling so much that she couldn't say a complete sentence, but he didn't have time to waste here with her.
“Where is Magistrate Wang now?”
“Magistrate… Magistrate Wang?”
Her body trembled frantically from fear, and her voice was completely out of shape.
The woman had already been frightened out of her wits by seeing the “Wei” character, and she no longer had any will to resist.
At this moment, she understood that the only way to survive was to tell everything she knew.
“Gong… Young Master, are you referring to that somewhat thin Wang Ren'an, who… who was the magistrate of Zhongling County two… two years ago, no… no, Master Wang?”
“That's him.”
Wei Changtian's eyes narrowed slightly: “Is he dead or alive now?”
“Re… Reporting to Young Master…”
Not daring to meet Wei Changtian's eyes, the woman endured the pain and lowered her head: “Master Wang is already dead.”
“How did he die?” Wei Changtian's expression did not change.
“This…”
The woman seemed to be recalling or organizing her words, and after a few breaths of pause, she trembled and replied:
“He… He was killed by bandits on the way to the prefectural yamen to request prefectural soldiers to suppress the bandits…”
“So… Some people say that a bailiff surnamed Tang in the prefectural yamen leaked the news, but the reason is unknown…”
“What about the current magistrate? Why doesn't he care about the banditry?” Wei Changtian asked again.
“This… this…”
“Because he is also a bandit?”
“Al… Almost…”
“A bandit acting as the magistrate, this Tan Prefecture is interesting.”
Wei Changtian sneered, and he roughly understood what was going on in his heart.
It was estimated that Magistrate Wang had raised enough money to ask the prefectural yamen to send troops to suppress the bandits, but a bailiff leaked his whereabouts, causing him to be intercepted and killed by bandits on the way.
In fact, even if that was the case, the people of Zhongling could continue to live in fear.
But who knew that the next magistrate would be a bandit.
Wei Changtian had only seen this kind of thing, where mountain bandits become magistrates, in a movie in his previous life.
And unlike Zhang Mazhi, this “bandit magistrate” was obviously not a “chivalrous bandit,” but completely turned Zhongling County into a big den of thieves.
In this way, the lives of the people of Zhongling were self-evident.
As for why the Tan Prefecture yamen didn't care...
It might be because the bandits paid enough tribute, or it might be because the previous series of disturbances had led to the prefectural yamen not being able to manage these things anymore.
Anyway, there were always excuses in troubled times.
Shaking his head, not continuing to think about it, Wei Changtian slowly stood up from the table.
He slowly walked to the woman, looked down at her, and asked:
“Where do the bandits in the city gather?”
“There are more than a hundred people in the county… county yamen…”
“There… There are some in the gambling houses in the east of the city…”
Soon, the woman trembled and said four or five locations, and then kowtowed repeatedly, regardless of everything.
“Young… Young Master, I really don't know the rest…”
“Please… Please have mercy and spare my life!”
“I was forced to do it. If I didn't join them, I would be tortured. I… I have no choice!”
“...”
The plea was extremely miserable, but it failed to stir up a trace of ripple in Wei Changtian's heart.
In just an instant, a flash of a knife, and the woman's head flew high into the air, with pleading and fear still remaining in her wide eyes.
Until the head landed, including Yang Liushi and Zhang San, the expressions of the people in the room did not change much, as if they were accustomed to such bloody and terrifying scenes.
“Tell my parents that they don't need to worry about tonight's events, just rest well.”
“We will continue on our way early tomorrow morning.”
Returning the knife to its sheath, Wei Changtian looked at the cold moonlight outside the window.
“Now, I'm going out for a while.”
